PREFACE. V 



rarest British birds still find a sanctuary here ; one 

 or two species are commoner here than elsewhere. 

 I proffer these random gleanings among the 

 birds of Devonshire many of them culled during 

 periods of relaxation, with gun and field -glass, 

 from more serious scientific work as a popular 

 contribution to the bird-lore of the county, ad- 

 dressed rather to the lover of birds than to the 

 scientific student of them, and with no greater 

 pretensions than to interest the general reader, or 

 possibly first to attract and then to instruct the 

 visitor with ornithological tastes to this highly- 

 favoured corner of the British Isles. 



CHARLES DIXON. 



PAIGNTON, S. DEVON, 

 November 1898. 



